Fledgling prodco Out of the Blue Productions, helmed by Blue’s Clues creator Angela Santomero, is on the hunt for licensing partners for its new preschool series Super Why, which is set to bow on PBS in the fall.

As it’s a literacy-based series, publishing is the natural program driver for the Super Why brand. And Out of the Blue co-founder Samantha Freeman says she’s focused on landing licensees for several book formats, including pop-up books and early reader books, before extending into other categories. To complement those efforts, a rich-media website and a test-market summer camp are in the works for later this year.

The show’s 30-minute eps combine CGI and 2-D animation to reach kids three to six with its stories about kids who enter a pop-up book world to find the answers to each episode’s main problem. Conceived by Santomero, it will also utilize the same kind of interactive elements that made her first series such a success. And a hefty 65-ep commitment from PBS and a Department of Education and Corporation for Public Broadcasting Ready to Learn grant should bolster its market presence.

Beyond Super Why, Out of the Blue has produced 12 Blue’s Clues specials for Nickelodeon and just put the finishing touches on the packaging for season two of PBS’s preschool block. ‘We are also developing a retro property,’ says Freeman. ‘But, it’s too early to talk about it yet.’

Out of the Blue will be making its debut at Licensing Show in New York next month.